Protest: The Pressure of Reality
Yixu Zhou, Online Branch, Staff Writer
January 17th, 2023
At the end of November, the most significant nationwide protest movement erupted in China since June 4, 1986. The outbreak of this movement was the culmination of a three-year long explosion of Chinese discontent with the so-called “zero COVID” policy. The marchers espoused provocative slogans and made clear and direct demands, such as seeking a more moderate pandemic prevention and mitigation policy.
The economic impact of China's public health policies was enormous, with people being fired from their jobs and many companies permanently closing down because of the lockdown policies. According to statistics, more than 460,000 companies in China closed in the first half of 2022, and more than 3 million private companies have shut down (1). In addition, many foreign companies are leaving China. Apple, for example, recently announced that it would move production out of China (2). Apple has provided five million jobs in China, butthe number of jobs it has brought to China is far more significant, as Apple has developed many related industries.
Although many companies announced before the outbreak that they would gradually move their production chains out of China, the pandemic policy implemented in China has undoubtedly accelerated this progress. It is difficult to estimate how many people lost their jobs as foreign investors fled China and companies closed down. After the pandemic, alleviating these adverse effects in the short term will be challenging. It is a significant problem for the Chinese government to solve the massive loss of jobs caused by the closure of many enterprises and the withdrawal of foreign factories.
The indisputable fact that the power of Chinese officials is not subject to citizen oversight provides ample room for rent-seeking by many officials and stakeholders during the pandemic. For example, nucleic acid testing companies can be quickly set up within days and immediately receive large government imbursements. Also, nucleic acid companies engaged in irregularities and falsified nucleic acid test results for financial gain (3). Nucleic acid companies falsified new coronary charts to take advantage of clearance policies to keep many local governments from conducting full-scale nucleic acid testing. Even though many people do not leave their homes for extended periods of time, they are still notified that their COVID test came back positive, which is patently absurd and unjust.
With extended lockdown and a virus that would seemingly never go away, paired with financial pressure, people eventually developed a severe distrust of the government. The effort eventually paid off, including the massive protests, in a noteworthy manner. In response to public opinion and practical needs, the Chinese government lifted the most severe anti-COVID-19 restrictions and promised a gradual transition to normal life.
1.https://thebl.com/opinion/%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8Bover-460000-firms-go-out-of-business- in-china-due-to-lockdowns-expert.html 2.https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/12/03/apple-tells-suppliers-to-plan-for-shift-of- manufacturing-out-of-china
3.https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202205/31/WS62955744a310fd2b29e5fe44.html